SJb41976

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I have to say that I am doing very and feeling great. I had my two week visit last week (which was closer to week 3) and the nurse was pleased with everything. I have lost 13% of my body weight. She said at one month they usually see 18% and she doesn't see why I wouldn't be able to reach that. I was moved off of liquids onto soft foods. Since I had my sleeve 6 years ago, I have eaten some chicken and everything has gone down fine. I go back for my one month visit next week. I will be exactly one month post op next Monday, March 28th.

I try not to weigh myself because it messes with my head. Since I am getting weighed at the doctor's office I know how I am doing in that area. I have lost several inches everywhere, I have dropped a jeans size. I've even lost inches in my upper arms because I can try jackets and shirt on that were normally tight and they fit now. 

 Life post-DS isn't that different than before, bathroom wise. Not yet. I am sure it will get more interesting the more food I start adding. But I told the nurse I didn't know what to expect but that I was pleasantly surprised. 

At one month I can start exercising. I walk now but they don't recommend doing anything beyond that.

All in all I have had a very boring recovery and I can say I am very happy about that.

Happy to say I am on the losers bench. I had a sleeve to DS revision, or the second part of the DS on Monday with Dr. Boyce in Knoxville, TN. Had a great experience. No complications. I was a bit uncomfortable pain wise on Wednesday but I think I overdid it on walking and using my abs to sit up. He gave me extra meds and I have been good ever since. Taking the pain meds prescribed before surgery as well. Sipping, walking, resting. Just wanted to give an update.

I am anxious to see what the futre holds. Cannot wait to start losing weight. 

This has been an interesting week. Not only did I start my pre-op diet with special food, my boys have been out of school 3 days for snow, but mainly because roads are icy. And....I have been sick with sinus crud and a migraine for THREE FREAKING DAYS. Yes, I am a little upset about that. I had to stop taking my birth control pills before surgery and my migraines are triggered by hormones...so, yeah. Also, I am sure not eating real food can trigger headaches too. At any rate, I am glad this week is almost over. Each day I say to myself, "tomorrow  will be a better day". It's the migraine that is killing me. I take prescription meds so I get relief but the headache comes back, which is typical. And they usually last three days if it is indeed hormonally related. 

Otherwise, I am doing good. I have lost weight but I don't get on the scale every day, but I could easily lose 10 pounds just this week. Tomorrow my husband and are going out for Valentines Day. And yes, I am going to eat. We are going to a farm to table restaurant. Everything is local and organic. I will be eating Paleo. I don't think my shrinking liver will be compromised, especially since I have 2 more weeks before surgery. If it was a week before or sooner, I probably wouldn't do it. Doctor's pre-op diets vary so much, it's crazy. But I do want to show my doctor that I am compliant and following orders. The last WEEK I am on liquids only so...I think everything will be cleaned out before surgery.

Being sick has been a good distraction, especially with my kids being home. I have had no energy. Thankfully, they are old enough to somewhat fend for themselves. And my husband works from home so I always have support. 

I haven't had lots of negative emotions regarding food. I know this too shall pass. I have been on the facebook DS group page a lot and it helps seeing how everyone is doing, how much weight they have lost, how "normal" they are. Life will be normal again for me, my new normal, and I am looking forward to that. This is a few weeks and when I look the big picture, it will be but a blip on the screen.

My surgery date for the DS is February 29th. I started a three week pre-op diet yesterday and I will be honest. It sucks. And three weeks is a long time but I decided to just take it one day at a time to not get overwhelmed.

I am anxious about surgery, I already have the sleeve so I have gone though all of this before. But having your guts rearranged and living a completely dfferent lifestyle is overwhelming. I've researched this for 18 months. I've researched all that I can. It came to knowing that nothing was going to change permanently without moving forward in this decision. I had to take a leap of faith. 

So with that comes anxiety, because I have anxiety and people who don't deal with anxiety don't understand the need to think and process. On one of my forums I posted some of my feelings and even though it was done nicely, I was told to let be what was going to be. And that was fine. But I figured I would come here and blog so that I can share all my feelings. The good, bad and ugly. If I am having an anxious day pre-op, i'm going to post. If it drives you crazy, don't read it. This is just my was of processing things.

The good thing about being told to let go is that it does make you think that, yeah, I've made the decision, I'm as healthy as I can be, I am active and I have a great surgeon. The staff is great. The hospital is great. So, it helped to focus that I can trust my decisions. I can trust the process. Because I have not made a rash decision. So trust it. So, it was good to hear that. Do I really want to sit and obsess the next three weeks about this surgery when I have no control over what happens that day. I just have to trust that the time, energy and thought going into this will pay off. And to just trust it. So, that was what came good from that response to one of my anxious posts.

As far as the pre-op diet, I am basically eating soft foods from BariLife. Think Optifast. Very similar. It sucks. The staying away from food isn't that difficult (at the moment) it's just the lack of energy and general feeling of malaise that I hate. Hopefully, after this week when my body gets used to this I will feel better. And three weeks is just a long time. I had to do two weeks the last surgery and that was bad enough. But, I did it. And I will be able to do this too. But there will probably be much venting.

Writing is very therapeutic for me. So, I am going to come to this blog when I am experiencing all the feels and hopefully process them instead of using food to numb those feelings. So, things might get ugly, but really, this is for me more than anyone else. 

Here's to Day 2. Let's keep trucking.

It has been over a year of research and discussion but I am going to have a revision from VSG to DS. I have gained 15 pounds just since summer. This year I have not really cared about my eating, have had lots of family stress and just gave up. For two years I fought and fought to lose the rest of the weight after I started regaining. Looking back I have done everything possible. I am fearful about the complications that might come with the DS but I have decided that in spite of those risks, I want to be healthy. I want to be able to move and keep up with my kids. I'm in constant joint pain and I'm on Celebrex all the time now. I work out 3x week, so I am active, and I don't abuse food, but unless I restrict all the time, I can't lose weight. If I stop eating flour and sugar that helps. But what I have found in 3 yeras of working on this stuff is that life is always going to happen. I'm not going to stay away from sugar and flour forever. It's nearly impossible. It will be easier to stay away if there are consequences, or just having a bite to satisfy the craving. I'm good at eating moderately, it just doesn't help me lose the weight.